Moroccan chickpea soup. Hearty and comforting.
We selected our best soup recipes for you. Some are familiar, some are truly exotic, and all are delicious. Bonus for soup-eaters: big health benefits. These soup recipes call for plenty of fresh vegetables and grains and are packed with vitamins and minerals you need to stave off winter ailments.
So bundle up to go outdoors, but when you’re home, sit down in front of, lets’ say, a fragrant, creamy, roasted garlic soup.
Fennel bulbs are in season now – at least, here in the Middle East. Providing you can get some, try this beautiful fennel soup from the Soup For Syria Cookbook by Barbara Abdeni Massaad. The recipe was developed by chef Greg Malouf.
White beans and loads of fresh, seasonal vegetables make a hearty soup to take the chill off winter days. Cook up our cannellini soup. You can either soak dry beans overnight ahead of time, or use canned beans.
Turkish lentil and chickpea soup with bulgur dumplings. Sound good? Sounds mouthwatering to me. It’s a soup that takes dedication, with a longish list of ingredients, and dumplings to shape by hand. A soup for serious cooks and serious soup eaters.
Among your pantry staples there are probably lentils. This rustic soup from Lebanon offers a satisfying bowl of lentils cooked down with vegetables and rice. Good for body and soul. Lebanese lentil soup.
Have you ever considered eggplant a soup ingredient? We have a whole soup based on eggplant. Cooked with mushrooms, swirled with pesto and sour cream, creamy eggplant soup is a surprise and a pleasure.
Chickpea and spinach soup appears on winter menus often, in the Middle East. I have a particular fondness for this Moroccan version of it.
Soup for breakfast? Why not? Moroccan cuisine developed a luscious, sweet wheat soup perfumed with orange flower water and cinnamon. Start your day with a bowlful, and you’ll have steady energy at least until lunchtime, and probably past. Herbel, Sweet Moroccan Wheat Soup.
You know, of course, that Jerusalem artichokes aren’t artichokes and have nothing to do with Jerusalem. Unless you bought some in a Jerusalem greengrocer’s to make this soup. Savory with saffron and thickened with almonds, it’s simple to make. And it satisfies your taste for the mildly exotic. Jerusalem artichoke soup.
What’s vichyssoise doing here? Well, it’s a soup traditionally served cold, but we say it’s no sin to eat vichyssoise hot off the stove. We do it. And like it, a lot.
We showed you bulgur dumplings from Turkey. We showed you soups brimming with chickpeas, croutons, and spinach. But we haven’t shown you the ultimate soup accompaniment: matzah balls. Famous for pairing with chicken soup, you can serve matzah balls in vegetarian broth or clear soup of any kind. So here you are, our traditional matzah ball recipe.
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
